Search engine optimization - that is, pursuing that top spot on Google results - has become much more complicated (and exciting!) in recent years. Link building has become paramount to being truly competitive in the SEO landscape. In basic terms, link building means getting links on other websites to your own website. The more backlinks that you have, the more credible your website will appear to web crawling search engines.

If you are completely new to link building, have no fear: it’s never too late to start. To help you get started with your link building campaign, here are our suggestions for 5 specific tools. Not all of these tools are required, but choosing a few in particular will make your link building campaign much more effective and help you solve the problem of knowing where to start.

#1: Google Sheets (and Google Docs!)  

Before you can start reaching out to professionals for your link building campaign, you have to get organized. You can use Google Sheets to organize your link building efforts right off the bat. Keep a running list of potential contacts, emails to follow up on, blog posts to write. It’s a simple yet effective solution to staying organized in a task that takes a lot of attention to detail. You can also use Google Docs to collaborate on emails drafts, SEO posts and more. 

#2: BuzzStream

BuzzStream is software made specifically for link building - you can’t beat that! It’s most powerful features includes a tool for researching prospects. You can also use the same research tool to track these prospects and gather information as you prepare for outreach. There are built-in reminders for follow up, a collaboration feature and more. 

#3: Calendar Tools

Google would (again) be a great option here. Calendar tools (like the aptly named Google Calendar) add a new level of organization to your link building campaign. You can import deadlines and create a timeline with a timeline maker that you can keep up on. Even better, Google Calendar syncs with your email account, which makes tracking individual projects much simpler.

#4: Boomerang

Boomerang is essentially a backup option when people don’t respond to your emails. With the tool, you can both schedule emails for later and send reminder emails when you don’t hear back from your prospects. It’s a simple enough add-on for Gmail that brings a lot of practicality. 

#5: Link Prospector

This tool is just what it sounds like - it allows you to assess the most relevant links to your business. The tool can help you identify locations for guest posts, blogs, directories, review pages, and more. In short, Link Prospector has the potential to save you quite a bit of time in the research stage of your link building campaign. 

One of the best marketing tips these days is to make sure you have your bases covered with link building - and you can use these tools as the starting point for your first link building campaign. If you still need help deciding what tools would work best for your link building campaign, reading user reviews of project management tools and marketing tools, such as the ones found on TrustRadius, are a great place to start. On the flipside, if you have anything to share about how these tools have helped with your own link building campaign, or other tools not listed here, feel free to share in the comments section below.

About The Author

Brooklin Nash writes about the latest tools and small business trends for TrustRadius. When he’s not writing, you can find him reading YA dystopian fiction (with guilty pleasure) and cooking